Knowing What Fabric You Are Using
by: Guest
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Burn Test
This is a common technique which requires a skilled burner and proper care to carry out. This test is used to determine whether a certain fabric is made out of man made fiber, natural fiber or a combination of both. Used by a lot of fabric designers, the burn test takes practice to exactly determine what the fiber content is in a particular fabric.
How To Do The Burn Test
Doing this test requires all the caution it takes to prevent any serious injury to happen. For added warning, there are those <a href="http://www.calicolaine.co.uk">Fabric</a> that will ignite and eventually melt thus resulting to burning drips that can cause a serious burn.
This test is done by using a small scrap of the fabric, hold this small piece with tweezers to avoid getting your fingers burned and then burn the fabric over a metal dish with water in the bottom part of the dish.
Natural Fibers
Plant fibers include cotton and linen. Cotton when ignited will burn with a steady flame and will smell just like burning leaves and you will notice that the ashes will easily crumble.
Linen, on the other hand, when burned takes a little time to ignite than cotton since they are made up of long plant fibers in contrast to the short ones that make up the latter.
Linen can easily be extinguished by blowing on it just like you would with a candle and by the time the flame goes out, the fabric which is closest to the ash is usually very brittle.
Silk and wool are protein fibers. Silk burns readily but not necessarily having a steady flame. It also smells like that of burning hair and just like burning cotton, the ash gets easily crumbled. However, silk samples are not easily extinguished.
As for wool which consists of individual hair-like fibers shorter than silk with the weave of these fabrics generally looser, would normally ignite harder. The flame is steady but difficult to keep it. However, just like silk, it also smells like burning hair.
Man Made Fibers
Fabrics made from wood fibers are called cellulose acetate which burns readily with a sparkling flame that is not easily put out. It leaves hard ash and smells like burning wood chips.
Acrylic burns readily because of its fiber content and its air-filled pockets. The ash is usually hard and it smells acrid or harsh.
A polyamide which is made from petroleum is the Nylon. When burned, it melts and then burns at a fast rate if the flame is not extinguished. The smell is similar to a burning plastic.
Polyester fabrics melt and burn at once and the burning ash bonds fast to any surface wherein it drips on even with skin. The smoke is black with sweetish smell and ash is hard.
Rayon is a fiber consisting of almost pure cellulose. It burns rapidly and leaves slight ash. The smell is close to that of burning leaves.
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